Weekender

Every time I go to London,

I remember that we have this amazing city an hour away, and I should go there more often. The buzz you get from it. You tune into a different energy, even from simple things like what people are wearing. It wakes you up.

On Saturday morning, I love Borough Market.

I’m not a caffeine maniac, but I am willing to queue at Monmouth Coffee for their filter coffee. This will wash down a doughnut from Bread Ahead.

The trick then is to mooch around long enough to justify having lunch,

then get stuck into some Indian street food from one of the stalls. Between the doughnut and lunch, you can ogle the produce and wish you lived in London, so you could do all your shopping here.

We might go for a mooch around Portobello Road.

There’s an antique-rug shop down there I love to call into, though I’ve never bought one. Some day I will. I also don’t know much about rugs, so I imagine everyone trying to sell me one is ripping me off.

On Saturday night, I will have planned ahead to score a booking in Roka on Charlotte Street.

It has amazing Japanese food, but it feels like an event, with a great buzz and people-watching.

For a bit of Sunday afternoon culture,

I might whizz around the Tate Modern. My missus is more the art person, but luckily she doesn’t believe in standing in front of things for hours. So we get it in at a nice clip.

I love a pint outside a London pub on a sunny evening.

There’s something about it, like a nostalgia for a past that isn’t mine.